Breaking Down Ben Roethlisberger's 1st-Half Struggles vs. Saints
Unfortunately, the biggest slice of blame pie for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 35-32 loss to the New Orleans Saints last Sunday is being force-fed to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers were once again the victims of a shaky start, and their second-half rally came up one drive short.
On some level, the criticism of Big Ben is justified. If all you look at is the box score, you might not know that Roethlisberger had one of the most forgettable first halves of the season. Roethlisberger finished with 435 yards passing, which marked his second-highest yardage output of the season.
However, to see what really happened, you have to dig a little deeper. Roethlisberger’s stats at halftime were bad—like Star Wars: Episode I bad. Roethlisberger went into halftime 8-of-20 for 115 yards and one interception.
TOP NEWS
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Colts Release Kenny Moore
Projecting Every NFL Team's Starting Lineup 🔮
Rookie WRs Who Will Outplay Their Draft Value 📈
Nevertheless, upon closer inspection, the argument that it was all on Big Ben just doesn’t hold water. Let’s break down three plays that offer a wider view of where the problems were.
On this first play, I want to illustrate two points before the snap. First, take note of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has the ball right around the 42-yard line. The next point to note is about right guard David DeCastro. DeCastro is singled up on Saints defensive lineman Akiem Hicks. What could possibly go wrong?
Moving ahead to shortly after the snap, we see the root cause of the errant throw by Roethlisberger. Hicks has walked Pittsburgh’s best offensive lineman eight yards backward like he was wearing roller skates. The pocket collapses, and Roethlisberger makes the bad throw. Honorable mention goes to tackle Mike Adams, who went full matador on defensive end Cameron Jordan on that same side.
On this next play, Roethlisberger is flushed from the pocket to his left. This is not an ideal situation, as he is forced to throw across his body. However, we all understand that Roethlisberger works best when things break down. But look at that lower body. I get that Roethlisberger is trying to make a play, but there aren’t many quarterbacks who can make an accurate throw with their lower body opened up like that.
And as we see from the next image, Roethlisberger can’t get anything on the throw, and he misses a wide-open Markus Wheaton. This one is all Ben. If he stops and gets his feet turned and set, he might take a hit, but he'll make a much better throw.
Finally, we see the Steelers deep in the red zone and looking to score. As we see from the first picture, Roethlisberger has a nice, clean pocket and is scanning the field. To compare to the first throw, DeCastro has Hicks in check and Roethlisberger has rookie wide receiver Martavis Bryant in single coverage on cornerback Corey White. This is the size mismatch Bryant was drafted to create in these situations.
Unfortunately, even Bryant’s 5-inch height advantage doesn’t help him if he can’t pull it in when Roethlisberger hits him right in the hands. Bryant had a handful of drops in the first half and saw limited targets in the second half.
Going back through the entirety of Roethlisberger’s 26 incompletions, there’s a nice spread of these three root causes. There’s a lot of that blame pie to go around, and plenty of guys get a slice. The point now is not to let these sorts of lapses happen against the Cincinnati Bengals, or the season will be as good as over.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
